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[Reprinted from the Book Notices of the New England Historical and Genealoffica! Reo-ister 

for July, 1839.] 

Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 1855-1858. Select- 
ed from the Records. Boston : Printed for the Society. 1859 8vo 
pp. 412. 

The book before us is issued in a very handsome style, and in many respects does 
great credit to the institution that has given it to the public. Several points present 
themselves to us on which it would give us pleasure to dwell ; but we must defer them 
till another number as there is one subject here brought forward that demands an im- 
mediate notice. We refer to the interference of the Massachusetts Historical Society 
with the application of our own Society for change of name. 

It IS known to many of our readers that, in 1858, the New England Historic-Genea- 
logical Society petitioned the General Court of Massachusetts to have its name changed 
to the New England Historical and Genealogical Society. The change asked for was 
«ie addition of the syllable al to Historic, and the insertion of the conjunction a7id. 
1 his petition was opposed by the Massachusetts Historical Society, on the ground that 
granting it would be an infringement of their corporate rights. 

•S i?_'^ <^;sagreeable task to perpetuate dissensions; but the responsibility for this rests 
with the Massachusetts Historical Society, not with us. In printing their "Proceedings " 
tney have gone out of their way to impugn the motives of our Society, and to dissemi- 
nate groundless surmises and erroneous statements. We shall not follow them through 
tneir labyrinths of error, but shall merely give a plain statement of facts, for which we 
have abundant proof. The members of that Society can have no objection, it is pre- 
sumed, to being held responsible for documents that bear their stamp of approval and 
which appear among their proceedings. 

The origin and early history of our own Society have been well set forth by Mr 
Drake, one of its founders, in the leading article in the Register for January, 1855. to 
which we would refer our readers for details which we do not give. 

Our Society was organized by its present name in December,"! 844 ; and never as rep- 
resented in the volume before us, bore the name of the " New England Genealogical 
bociety. It was fairly decided by the originators that the Society should be devoted 
to the investigation of both history and genealogy, though some of them seem to have 
wished tor a purely genealogical Society. The present name was intended, as it now 
is, to express this union of history and genealogy. 

In January, 1845, a few weeks after its organization, the Society petitioned for an 
act ot incorporation. Our petition was referred to a committee, the chairman of which 
was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, through whose influence an 
adverse report was made. This was the first intimation that our members had that the 
Massachusetts Historical Society, or any of its members, were opposed to the formation 
ot the new Society, or considered it in any way as a rival. This adverse report, how- 
ever, was not fatal, for the subject was referred to a new committee, by whom a bill 
incorporating the Society was reported, which passed both houses, and was simed by 
the governor, March, 1845. The idea is advanced by our opponents, that had we 
asked in 1845, for the name lately petitioned for, we should have been unsuccessful 
Ihere appears to be no ground for such a supposition. On the contrary, from all the 
sources ot information at our command, we have no doubt we could as readily have 
obtained that name as any other. 

The Society early projected the publication of a periodical, and in December 1845 
on the anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims, issued a prospectus for "The Gen- 
ealogical and Antiquarian Register." The next year, the Society having decided to 
issue the work, arrangements were made with Rev. William Cogswell D D of Gil- 
manton, N. H., as editor, and Samuel G. Drake, Esq., of this city, as publisher. Through 
the influence, we believe, of Rev. Dr. Cogswell, who, before this arrangement had 
taken no active part m the affairs of the Society, the title of the work was modified so 
as to read, " The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," under which 
name the first number, for January, 1847, appeared, and under which the work has con- 
tinued to appear for upwards of twelve years. We are accused of takino- this name 
for our periodical " in the very face of the Act of Incorporation" ; but it would be dif- 
fieult to find any clause in that act restricting us in the choice of titles for our publica- 
tions. ' 

A dissatisfaction >ith the name, " New England Historic Genealogical Society " 
soon grew up in the Society, chiefly among the new members ; though''Mr. Drake'in- 
forms us that it existed, even at the time of the adoption of the name, in the minds of 



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some of the original members. The chief of various objections that we have heard made 
to it is, that it is a combination likely to mislead the public mind as to the design of 
the Society : the objectors contending that only the genealogy of historic personages 
■would generally be considered as our province, to the exclusion of history and the 
genealogy of the people, both of which were intended to be included. It was not, how- 
ever, till the summer of 185,5, that a proposition for a change of name was started, and 
the name then selected, instead of approaching nearer that of the Massachusetts Histor- 
ical Society, was a move in the opposite direction. It was proposed to call it the 
" American Archaeological Society," but this name was subsequently changed to the 
" New England Archieological Society," and was submitted to a vote of the Society 
in April, 1856. It was opposed by nearly all the old members, and, on its being put 
to vote, only four names were recorded in its favor. The chief argument used was, 
that the Society had been known by its present name for eleven years, and had gained 
a reputation under it that it was desirable not to lose. One of the persons who objected 
to the old name, afterwards brought forward that of the " New England Historical and 
Genealogical Society " as a compromise. This name found favor with the Society. 
It did not differ from the old name enough to prevent the Society from being readily 
recognized as the same ; while it clearly and unequivocally expressed the objects of 
the association. In fiict, this name had early been applied to the Society, by persons 
residing at a distance from Boston, and even by some in our immediate neighborhood, 
who, knowing the Society chiefly through its periodical, were led to confound names 
which resembled each other so much. The proposed name was approved by the Board 
of Directors, and by them brought before the Society in December, 1856. At the 
annual meeting, January, 1 857, which was very fully attended, the name was approved 
without a dissenting voice or vote ; and a committee was appointed to petition the 
Legislature on the subject. The charge that our Society has attempted to do in an 
nnderhand way what it did not dare to do openly, has not a particle of evidence to 
sustain it. The movements which it has been attempted to torture into support of 
such a theory, did not originate with one person, as supposed, but with several persons ; 
and, as far as we can learn, all of these persons joined the Society long after the imagi- 
nary plot is supposed to have been formed. As an evidence that the person who orig- 
inated the last movement had no desire to see this Society confounded with the Massa- 
chusetts Historical Society, we will state that when the name, "New England Archfeo- 
logical Society," (which would, if adopted, have completely distinguished the two 
corporations,) was before the Society, he voted for it. 

Our opponents have signally failed in showing that this Society had covert designs. 
Perhaps some guesses at their hidden motives, which we have heard from more than one, 
even among those who are not members of our Society, may be without foundation. We 
have heard it suggested that the disingenuousness of their remonstrance would seem to 
indicate that the Veal opposition to us was not on account of the word "historical" which 
we asked for, but of the words "New England" which we already had. It has also 
been suggested, that our opponents show signs of fear that the popular character of our 
Society, — so perfectly in accordance with American institutions, and precisely similar 
to that of the most flourishing historical society in this country, — and the liberal man- 
ner in which we allow our collections to be used, would give us an advantage over 
them. 

In the volume we are noticing, after reference to the unanswerable pamphlet of our 
committee last year, it is stated that this "little book" is reported to have "been put 
into the hands of every member of the Legislature, — a sort of log-rolling emissary," &c. 
Such contempt and horror of underhand dealings are here expressed that one would 
hardly imagine that this was only an answer to a document laid early one morning on 
the desk of every member of the Senate — the very remonstrance reprinted in the vol- 
ume before us. If it be feir and honest to issue a carefully-worded document, filled 
with statements which, at least, are open to a reply, wc cannot see why a straight-for- 
ward answer to it, publicly sent forth, should deserve the epithets here used. 

The claim which the Massachusetts Historical Society lay to being " The Historical 
Society" is, perhaps, deserving of a passing notice. The "original draught" of their 
Society difl"ered in two points from their act of incorporation. In the former, the num- 
ber of members was limited to thirty, and the association was called " The Historical 
Society." The Legislature added the word " Massachusetts," to their name, and (as 
a protest, it may be, against cliques and exclusiveness) raised the number to sixty. 
The oldest member of their Society has always understood that the number was raised 
"without, if not contrary to, the wishes of the original associates." Perhaps the word 
" Massachusetts " was added in the same way. But whether it was done with or without 
the consent of the associates, it is evident that the Legislature did not intend to incor- 
porate "The Historical Society." And yet this name has been assumed; and the 
successors of those associates now modestly ask the General Court to confirm it to 



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them. We could with justice echo the appeal which they so unreasonably make, when 
referring to our use of the word "historical" in the name of the Register : " Is it pos- 
sible that the Legislature of Massachusetts will sanction a name thus assumed under 
such circumstances, not only without, but in defiance of their authority?" 

It will be apparent to our readers that the name we have chosen to apply for was 
adopted without any reference to the Massachusetts Historical Society. Had that 
society been the only one that bore the word "historical" as a portion of its name, we 
should have had no desire to have borne it as a portion of ours; but a great and honor- 
able brotherhood of associations, in other parts of the country, had chosen it as their 
distinctive title. The information, therefore, that one body of men claimed a monopoly 
in so common a word, was received by us with astonishment. As we recognized no 
such monopoly, the threat that our petition would be opposed did not deter us from 
prosecuting it. We knew that we had always endeavored to keep our Society distinct 
in the public mind from theirs, and that the name we had chosen was thoroughly dis- 
tinctive ; for there were thousands of corporations whose names resembled each other 
more than ours would theirs. We would not, therefore, be voluntarily dictated to in a 
matter that concerned ourselves only. Our position is, that the fact of there being a 
Massachusetts Historical Society is no bar to there being another Historical Society in 
this city, with a name that is sufficiently distinctive, — a New England, a Suffolk, a Bos- 
ton, a Methodist, or a Congregational Historical Society, for instance. We care not how 
many associations there are for the investigation of historical subjects, nor what names 
they choose to call themselves by, provided they have a distinguishing adjective. It 
would seem that the Legislature that incorporated the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
held opinions similar to ours; and foreseeing the claim that would be set up, if they 
should incorporate it as "The Historical Society," provided what appeared to them a 
bar to such monopoly. We find, too, that common law, as well as common sense, is 
on our side : for both teach that property cannot be acquired in any word "known to 
the language and in common use to designate things or the qualities of things." 

The advantage to ourselves of a change of name is slight ; and though the injury to 
our opponents is purely imaginary, our Society may not deem it advisable to make 
another application to the General Court. The question of the right to monopolize the 
word "historical" is, however, now fairly before the public; and, whatever our own 
course may be, we risk little in predicting that our opponents cannot hold the position 
they have taken, and that they will be overcome by the first collection of individuals 
who care enough about the matter to persevere. Should our Society decide to pursue 
the subject farther, there can be no doubt that, sustained as we are by justice and an 
enlightened public opinion, we must finally prevail. d. 



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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 



013 995 061 6 % 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 995 061 6 



HoUinger 

pH S3 

Mm Run F03.2193 



